About the company: Glossier, Inc. is a direct-to-consumer beauty company that leverages content and community to power a superior shopping experience. Their skincare, makeup, body, and fragrance products are sold in the United States, Canada, Sweden, and the United Kingdom directly through Glossier and in their New York City showroom.
Dissection:
When one thinks of all the brands that have successfully used social media, especially Instagram, to its advantage – one brand stands out more than others and thats Glossier. Glossier quite literally used Instagram to launch itself into the beauty market and has comfortably taken over a large percentage of the market share.
Even before Glossier launched any products, it had somewhat made a name of itself on Instagram. Glossiers CEO and Founder Emily Weiss used her famous blog Into The Gloss, alongside her account (both running in hundred thousands) to hype the brand before it even began. With constant attention on Glossier from both Weiss and IntoTheBlog, Glossier already had created a fan following which further expanded on the app when it launched as an independent.
As soon as Glossier was launched and they had a product line, the brand was quick to personify itself as an aesthetic millennial with Forbes calling them the beauty brand of the Instagram generation. From the get-go, Glossier distanced itself from the luxury beauty brands and created more of an approachable look that spoke to people of all kinds.
Not only is Glossier approachable on social media, but it is also relatable and much of their content resonates with their demographics. From posting memes, GIFs, and cute animal pictures to sharing relatable advice, product promotions, and life tips – Glossier has embodied this generations behavior on social media and doles out the content accordingly.
Another strategy that Glossier has implemented which may seem bizarre to some is avoidance of influencer marketing and preferring user-generated content. Instead of collaborating with social media influencers, Glossier has made its users, followers, and customers into their influencers with several pictures and reposts of their users pictures on their social media account. The frequent sharing of users pictures on an account that has a massive following works as an incentive for followers to use Glossiers makeup and post them on their accounts in hopes that the brand would repost them on their accounts, boosting their customer engagement like no other. They even have referral programs that offer discounts to those who refer the brand on social media also sends freebies to influencers and brand loyalists even before the products are launched.
Just because Glossier doesnt largely work with social media influencers doesnt mean that they dont work with celebrities either. Several of their celebrity endorsement posts such as those with Beyonce, Taraji P Henson, Reese Witherspoon, Chrissy Teigen, and many more have gone viral on social media more than one can even count.
Although Glossier has largely based itself on Instagram, it doesnt mean that theyre any less active on other social media applications. Glossier has successfully leveraged Facebook and Twitter too.
The brand uses Facebook as a means to promote their content as much as possible while also putting out relatable meme-content multiple times a day. Glossier also used both apps to drive their customer engagements massively by having a one-on-one relationship with followers. They respond to all mentions and almost every public tweet tagging them while also talking to the demographics in a manner that they understand. Glossier has such a dedicated following that users regularly share tweets or funny Glossier references that the brand reposts on their social.
All in all, Glossier has made the world of the Internet know that they are very different from the rest of the beauty industry. Instead of sticking to the strategies followed by luxury brands, its branded itself as everyones go-to person for makeup, life advice, humor, everything. The customer engagement that Glossier has is like no other which explains why the brand is so socially driven and why their authenticity is unparalleled. Glossier stands as a testament to how leveraging social media and keeping it to the core of your business may end up doing wonders for your brand.
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